Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Wrigley (Oct 13/00) - The Pehdzeh Ki First Nation's neighbours may abandon some of their plans to protect land and water from development north of Wrigley.

Alvin Yallee, president of the Tulita Land Corporation, told members of the PKFN that the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Claim boundary must be recognized.

"I'm telling them that it stops at the boundary," Yallee said last week at a two-day Protected Areas Strategy workshop.

He added his people have oil, gas and mineral interests in the area.

He added he can't imagine anyone would tell the Sahtu how to manage their resources.

But Yallee said the Tulita Land Corporation is willing to work with the PKFN on protecting parcels of land belonging to Tulita outside the Sahtu claim boundary.

Tulita was granted surface rights to several parcels of land south of the boundary because residents traditionally trapped in those places, according to Yallee.

Yet a difference of terminology remained even there.

Yallee said there could be co-management for "traditional use," purposes, while land-use planner Petr Cizek repeatedly stressed "land management."

The Blackwater Lake area, one of the areas the PKFN has identified for protection, specifically crosses into the Sahtu claim area. Cizek said other areas, such as Root River, Blackwater Lake, Keller Lake, Ochre River, Fish Lake and Spruce Lake, could still be protected without co-operation from the Tulita Land Corporation.

But without protecting the watershed in the southern Sahtu, these bodies of water could still be affected by development, he said.

Sacred areas

Elder Gabe Hardisty, one of 30 PKFN members to participate in the PAS workshop, spoke of the value of the lands and water in question today and for future generations.

"If those areas like Fish Lake are contaminated, it's like someone takes a piece of you and throws it away," said Hardisty, adding his great, great-grandfather lived off that land.

Someone else pointed out caribou have been known to migrate around the Spruce Lake area at times.

Cizek added the streams feeding the lakes are vital because they are sometimes spawning areas.

After a mapping exercise, during which cabins, burial sites, medicinal plants, traditional trails, spawning areas and calving areas were identified, the PKFN created a draft resolution to propose the areas as a candidate under the Protected Areas Strategy.

Cizek said the next steps would include a series of scientific mapping for ecological and economic values.

He also said a sponsoring government agency would have to be found.

PKFN Chief Albert Moses said the lands in question do not include the area in which Anadarko Canada is planning to perform seismic work in search of natural gas.